Why official accident stats don’t always match citizen complaints

The in basket: I often get complaints from readers about a lot
of accidents at some location where the governing jurisdiction’s
data shows not nearly as many. Sometimes it’s clearly because of a
lag in the official record keeping reports, and sometimes people
exaggerate. But I wondered whether there are other
explanations.

The out basket: Trooper Russ Winger explains the official
records:

“These stats are compiled from the Police Traffic Collision
Report (PTCR) that law enforcement officers statewide submit as a
Reportable Collision. The Washington State Patrol Collision Records
Section is the repository for the state’s collision records.

“They receive all Vehicle Collision Reports from law enforcement
officers of the state, county, city, town, or other political
subdivision along with civilians that report their own
collision.

“These reports are written for each vehicle collision resulting
in injury or death of any person, or damage to the property of any
one person to an apparent extent of $700 or more.

“Statewide collision statistics are gathered and entered into a
data base at Collision Records in Olympia. The WSDOT is the agency
that oversees the data collection although it is administered by
the WSP office of Collision Records. Washington State shares its
data with NHTSA, the Federal agency responsible for traffic safety
and information.

“Officers complete the PTCR either in hand written form, which
are then mailed in or through electronic format.

“Officers who investigate collisions have to make a judgment
call about the monetary damage to vehicles in deciding whether to
complete the PTCR. It takes relatively little damage to reach the
$700 level in modern vehicles.

“Persons involved in collisions investigated by law enforcement
where a PTCR is completed are NOT required to
complete a Civilian Collision Report.

“Many very minor collisions are also investigated by law
enforcement that fall under the “non-reportable” class. They are
usually very minor damage, or no damage, such as when a vehicle
slides into a ditch and no damage results. The officer usually
takes the basic information down and enters it into their
respective jurisdiction data base. A PTCR is not completed and
therefore this information is not reported to Collision Records.
Drivers involved can complete a Civilian Collision Report
individually if they choose to do so but the reports are not
mandatory.

“Drivers involved in minor collisions that are not investigated
by law enforcement, where drivers decide mutually to simply
exchange information and leave, can also complete and submit a
Civilian Report. Submission is again not mandatory for either
party.

“So it is true, numerous collisions happen across the state that
are not investigated by law enforcement or reported to Accident
Records in Olympia by drivers or police. Drivers sometimes just
drive off, after crashing the vehicle. Many collisions that occur
during a storm or snow event are just driven off, even though they
may have sustained reportable damage or injury. There are numerous
scenarios possible where collisions are not reported to Olympia,”
Russ concluded.